Cultural Bias

Question 1

what is Etic?

Answer 1

where a theory doesn’t adapt to other countries / cultures
- objective, looking for universal behaviour
- outside perspective

Question 2

what is Emic?

Answer 2

where a theory changes depending on the country
- considers the native’s perspective
- subjective and essential

Question 3

what is Alpha Bias?

Answer 3

where a theory assumes that cultures are profoundly different

Question 4

what is Beta Bias?

Answer 4

when real cultural differences are ignored or minimised - resulting in universal research designs and conclusions

Question 5

what is Ethnocentrism?

Answer 5

seeing the world from only your own perspective & believing that this perspective is normal and correct
- leads to judging own group as superior
- leads to stereotypes and prejudice

Question 6

what is Cultural relativism?

Answer 6

insists that behaviour can only be properly understood if the cultural context is taken into consideration

Question 7

what is an example of cultural relativism?

Answer 7

Milgram’s study was recreated
- Spain had 90% obedience
- Australia had 16% obedience

Question 8

strength of Cultural Bias

Answer 8

Led to the development of Indigenous Psychology
- theories drawing explicitly on the particular experiences of people in different cultural contexts
- e.g. Afrocentrism where theories about black people must recognise the context of African behaviours and attitudes

Question 9

Weaknesses of Cultural Bias

Answer 9

• Smith and bond found that in a European psychology textbook 66% of the studies were American, 32% were European and only 2% were from the rest of the world - suggests research is under-representative
• Culturally biased research can have real world effects / harmful stereotypes - American Army IQ test was based on American culture and led to an idea Americans were smarter than other countries